Well firewire could never capture the HD bandwidth anyway so its omission on the HMC150 is a relatively moot point. With today's computers, live capture of a full 1920x1080p image can't be done without some HDMI hardware. The Intensity is only $250 but is PCI-x form factor. Here is a hack to stuff one inside a Macbook Pro for the brave warranty-be-damned types out there